The US is trying to reverse history and not become the 21st century’s Babylon

On August 9, 2021, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken delivered a speech at the University of Maryland entitled "Domestic renewal as a foreign policy priority". The name of the speech reflects its main content. Blinken, in particular, said the following:

"I’ve got to tell you that maybe more than at any other time in my career – maybe in my lifetime – old distinctions between domestic and foreign policy have simply fallen away.  Our domestic renewal and our strength in the world are completely entwined.

And that’s why I’m here today, because there’s nothing we can do that will enhance our global standing and influence more than what our domestic renewal can deliver, particularly when it comes to the strength of our workforce, our economic dynamism, the quality of opportunity we offer our people, the resilience of our infrastructure, and the power of our innovation."

According to the US Secretary of State, in recent decades, the share of public investment in the American economy has decreased by more than 40%, the country relies heavily on its "earlier achievements – schools, roads and innovations created a long time ago."

Anthony Blinken also gave a number of examples that characterise America's lagging behind other countries, primarily China:

"China is spending three times as much on infrastructure as we do every year.  And it’s not just China.  The United States now ranks 13th in the world in the total quality of our infrastructure, and if we don’t make major investments soon, it’ll be more than just 12 countries ahead of us.

We’re falling behind on innovation.  Thirty years ago, we ranked number one in the world in terms of how much we invested as a share of our economy in research and development.  It’s how we won the space race, mapped the human genome, built the internet.  Now we’re number nine.  China used to be number eight.  Now they’re number two."

The US Secretary of State also did not avoid the widely discussed topic of the loss of world hegemony by the United States:

“…it’s no secret to any of us that the Chinese and Russian governments, among others, are making the argument in public and in private that the United States is in decline – so it’s better to cast your lot with their authoritarian visions for the world than with our democratic one. We can and we do remind them that we continue to be an abundantly strong country by measure after measure.”

What can we say: a rather self-critical speech. Indeed, for several decades, the United States developed by inertia, eating through the legacy created by previous generations of Americans.

What else can we agree with: the external expansion of any country, whether it is the United States or Russia, is directly related to its internal potential. Therefore, in order to maintain its leading positions in the world, the American establishment is set up for intensive domestic development.

If we talk about the thesis that "the United States is still an extremely strong country," then it is only partially true. Yes, of course, the United States is an extremely strong country, but it is also a country that is losing its position as a world hegemon. There are questions. Will it be able to return them, taking into account the above? And is the American recovery plan so perfect?

It is obvious that a victory is two-thirds immaterial, and, first of all, any victory is a victory of the spirit. And a strong spirit is possible only in a society with high moral standards, a society based on traditional values, a traditional family, where marriage is the union of a man and a woman.

However, Anthony Blinken does not argue on this issue in his speech - the duty phrases about the value of American democracy can't be taken in account. But if to speak about the practical affairs of the new US presidential administration under the leadership of Joe Biden, then in order to come to power and now to keep it, it has relied on the sexual and national minorities of America, including their radical part.

Patrick Buchanan warned about the danger of such a path for the American state and society in his book published in October 2011, "Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?".

According to Buchanan, modern America has become a victim of the decline of morality, the loss of traditional values: "Advocates of gay marriage see adversaries as homophobic bigots; opponents see advocates as seeking to elevate unnatural acts to the moral and legal status of sacred matrimony. Where one half of America sees progress, the other half sees decadence. The common moral ground on which we once stood united is gone.

Christmas and Easter, the holy days of Christendom, once united us in joy. Now we fight over whether they may be mentioned in public schools. Half of America regards her history as glorious; the other half reviles it as racist.”

Thus, the United States has big problems with restoring its hegemony in the world. The main reason for the inability of the United States to return to its former positions is precisely of an internal nature – it is a rejection at the official level of traditional values, and as a result - the moral decay of the American nation, which will inevitably lead to the degradation of the United States as a state with all the consequences that follow from this. And, by the way, Anthony Blinken does not say a word about this main reason in his speech.

It is desirable, of course, to learn from the mistakes of others. American history also provides instructive lessons for Russia. Our country should be engaged in its internal development, building up its internal potential and, first of all, strengthening the moral foundations of society, the common moral foundation of the nation and the state. And there is a lot of work to do here.